Another in our weekly series of reviews covering RING OF HONOR DEE-VEE-DEEZ! For more information visit www.ROHWrestling.com and don't forget to buy a few DVD's of your own while there. This week we're covering "Expect the Unexpected" from March 15th, 2003. Last night was Part 1 right up through intermission so let's get on with it and do Part 2! We left off with Low-Ki and Da Hit Squad "beating some respect" into the drug-addled ravers from Special K.
During intermission we get Gary Michael Capetta backstage with the Carnage Crew. They brag about loving to inflict damage and cause riots. "You've got to know you're raising the ire of the Christopher Street Connection and the Texas Wrestling Academy." Loc: "When you work 60 hours, and find out the government took a third of your paycheck, pay $1.75 a gallon, you come home and there's no dinner on the table but your fat wife had time to go to the store and cram a fat Snickers down her throat..." DeVito: "But when the Carnage Crew goes out there, and BLEEDS, and get away from our nagging kids and my skinny crackhead wife, WE WON!" Next Capetta goes to an interview with Raven. He appears to be inviting Trinity to join him later, and after she tentatively accepts his invitation the interview is OVER as Raven just walks off. Intermission over and it's time for another match!
* Dunn & Marcos (Ring Crew Express) v. Quiet Storm & Ghost Shadow
Once again we get the pre-match promo about Dunn & Marcos being the top tag team in Ring of Honor. Quiet Storm and Marcos start off. Marcos gets his butt handed to him, Ghost Shadow tags in and hits a spinning elbow drop before posing over Marcos with a cover for 2. Marcos manages to knock Shadow into the turnbuckle and tag in Dunn. Dunn whips Ghost Shadow off the ropes and Marcos helps him do a double team Sliced Bread #2. Running step knee by Ghost Shadow, Dunn put up on the top rope and brought down hard. Spinal Shock by Storm and Shadow follows up with a dropkick. Dunn does a reverse facebreaker on Ghost Shadow. Both men make hot tags. Storm & Shadow stay on offense but Ghost Shadow comes back with a shinbreaker. Storm grabs an ankle for a submission and Marcos taps out. WINNERS: STORM & SHADOW.
* CM Punk v. Raven (Raven's Rules match)
Raven does his slump down in the corner and Trinity slumps down on top of him. Damn! Raven and Punk lock up and Punk arm drags Raven to the mat hard. The two lock up again and Punk gives him another one, before slumping down in the corner mocking Raven. Third tie-up and Raven tries to block Punk but ends up getting dropkicked anyway and Punk once again mocks Raven by using the ropes for a hammoch. Raven finally gets 3 armdrags of his own and dropkicks Punk to the floor before he goes over the top rope to splash Punk outside. Snapmare and a neck snap before Raven puts on a side headlock. Punk gets up but gets knocked back down into another headlock. Punk rolls out of the ring and starts to walk away. Raven: "I told you Punk that I'd outwrestle you, so now it's time to bring out the plunder." Punk grabs a chair and brings it back to the ring with him, he swings and misses and the chair bounces off the ropes into his face, and Punk slides out of the ring again. Punk nails Raven with a chair as he's followed around the outside of the ring in chase. Punk throws Raven into the guardrail. Raven whips Punk THROUGH a guardrail. Raven goes for a section of steel maeh fence and lights up Punk with it. Punk gets back into the ring and hits a vertical suplex.
ALRIGHT NOW I'M PISSED. I just spent the last 90 minutes reviewing the rest of this freaking DVD and the news manager logged me out in mid-post so when I went to save THE WHOLE FREAKIN' REVIEW VANISHED. I don't feel like watching all these matches again move for move so I'm going to summarize everything other than the main event and then give you the finish of that. I apologize but really I blame the login system I also blame Killa Kev - somehow this is his fault too.
In the rest of the Raven versus CM Punk match, they beat the snot out of each other inside and outside the ring. There are a lot of chair spots as Punk proves he's not afraid to fight Raven on his own terms. At one point Raven goes for a table but Punk dropkicks it in his face. Trinity comes over to check on Raven and Punk lays her out and crushes her through the table with a legdrop, and he gets a huge pop from the crowd for it. Raven's head turns into a bloody mess as the match goes on. Punk not-so-accidentally knocks out the ref and Raven ends up on top of him after the trademark drop toe hold into a seated steel chair. 7 count is all for naught. Punk hits a low blow to the balls and gets a double lock, Raven taps out just as the ref comes to. WINNER: CM PUNK. Punk mocks Raven and waits for a handshake, pulls Raven in for a boot to the gut when he accepts it, Raven counters for a DDT and the ref breaks it up pointing to the turnbuckle letters R-O-H to remind him of the Code. Raven decides to DDT the ref instead. Trinity and Raven help each other to the back.
* BJ Whitmer v. EZ Money v. Samoa Joe v. Homicide (#1 Contender's Match)
This was an amazing match and you have no idea how fucking PISSED I am that my entire recap of this shit got wiped out. There were about ten thousand near falls, a lot of personal beefing between Joe and Homicide throughout, Whitmer & Money working together when it's convenient and screwing each other whenever they can, and Joe putting on a veritable wrestling clinic throughout. This match was incredibly fast paced, what seemed like 3 spots every ten seconds, so each minute of this recap I lost had to be at least 150 words. Finish came when EZ Money went for a Cha Ching on Joe but Joe put on his trademark kokina clutch hold and Homicide could not make it there in time to break up the tap out. WINNER AND NEW #1 CONTENDER: SAMOA JOE. Joe and Homicide get head to head on all fours afterwards and exchange a begrudging handshake. Joe poses standing over Homicide with both arms raised afterwards before being presented the trophy. Homicide screams at Joe to remind him it's not over. More handshakes all around as Joe's Godzilla music plays. As Joe leaves the ring Homicide finds the camera and vows it's not over with Joe OR Steve Cornio. Meanwhile Homicide's boys from Brooklyn in the crowd start arguing with Joe and charge the guardrail as Joe heads for the curtain. Joe and Homicide start brawling on the floor and security seperates them. There's a long post-match pull apart which spills towrds the exit.
* AJ Styles & Amazing Red (with Alexis Laree) v. Christopher Daniels & Xavier {C} (with Allison Danger) for the ROH World Tag Team titles
So apparently Red was too beat up to help Styles in the scramble match earlier but he's more than happy to be in the main event now that Styles won him a title shot all on his own. Beggers can't be choosers though and Styles needs a partner particularly against the Prophecy. This match is classic tag team wrestling at its finest with both teams working over one man and cutting off the ring with rapid tags. X gets nailed in the head repeatedly and the announcers try to sell it like he's concussed but X is not displaying any of the glazed eye drunken stumbling that HBK or RVD has done in recent weeks - in fact he seems to be just fine for most of the match. This one goes a little over 20 minutes and every minute was fun as all four men in this are "Phenomenal" and yes I'll even include Xavier in that statement much as people hated him back in late 2002 and early 2003. Finish comes as Daniels hits Red with a judo takedown, the Best Moonsault Ever, and a near fall before Styles pulls him off. Daniels gives Styles a front face slam into a submission but Red makes the save with an elbow to the neck. Red and Styles try to double team but Fallen Angel hits a double clothesline. Daniels with a boot to the gut and Angel's Wings but Red breaks it up at the last iota of a second! Daniels whipped to the corner, he floats Red over as he charges in, Red grabs the ropes, reverses Daniels, small package for 2. Daniels clotheslines Red out of his shoes & socks and sets him up on the corner for a superplex. Styles comes underneath Daniels legs as he's setting up, Red punches Daniels in the face to knock him free, Styles Clash! Red cuts off Xavier and Styles holds on for the pin 1-2-3. WINNERS & NEW ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPS: AMAZING RED & AJ STYLES.
Post-match promo backstage by Homicide and we see that his boys from Brooklyn in the crowd are there, including a very familiar man and his gold teeth in the form of Julius Smokes, who gives his trademark BRRRRAP BRRRRAP. Homicide promises they're going to watch his back everywhere he goes including Philadelphia. Camera tries to interview Daniels and he says he's not giving any damn promo and throws out the camera and slams the door in his face. Punk cuts a promo and says wrestling is not his hobby, it's what he does best, his REAL hobby is crushing the human spirit just like he did to Raven in the match. Punk says Raven can have Colt Cabana as a partner in Philadelphia, but Punk has Ace Steel as his the man who trained him and Ace won't stab him in the back. Punk promises that Raven will succeed in Ring of Honor NEVERMORE and says "Quote me!" Fine DVD, highly recommended, the only really mediocre matches were the tag team battle of Storm & Shadow versus Dunn & Marcos and the opener between Collyer and Stryker. My apologies for the lack of depth on some of these closing matches. I vow to keep backups in progress from now on and not trust the damn newsfeed editor to save my work. Fuck. See you next time for more reviews of RING OF HONOR DEE-VEE-DEEZ~!